The Common Denominator
by Vermillion Jay
Summary: Matthias, your typical high school nerd, somehow lands himself a position as drummer in a garage punk band, much to the lead singer, Lukas' dismay. The issue? He's totally gay for him. But what could a math-obsessed geek and a rebellious punk possibly have in common? Punk!Norway, Nerd!Denmark.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this idea's been floating around in my head for about two months now, after discovering the DenNor nerd/punk AU, and I just had to get it down on paper... Or typed on a word processor. Either way. Anyway, here, I wrote a thing:**

As a general rule, Matthias was not what one would consider cool. He was not rebellious, exciting, or even particularly interesting by most people's standards. Of course, not a one would assume differently of the eleventh grader taking AP calculus (along with an assortment of other advanced-placement classes), especially after seeing him in person. Going by the stereotypes, anyone who wore thick-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector was universally considered a nerd by those at the local high school.

And they would be absolutely correct. Matthias was the definition of nerdy. But that did not necessarily mean that everything he did was nerdy.

Like, for instance, staying after school every Thursday and Friday. Sure, plenty of nerds stayed after school, but while most were at some sort of club, Matthias was in the music room. Said music room was taken the first three days of the week by various music groups, but the room was completely empty last two days of the week, and Matthias took advantage of this opportunity to practice playing the drums.

And drums certainly weren't the nerdiest thing in the world; they were actually considered pretty cool by most people. It was probably the coolest hobby Matthias had, seeing as his other pastimes included playing fantasy video games, programming computers, and trying to finally get the 8192 tile on 2048 (he'd gotten 4096 a few days after downloading the game, but the elusive 8192 still remained unachievable after months of relentless effort).

Anyhow, he would have played at home, but he'd had to give away his previous drum kit when his family had moved to the US from Denmark a week prior, so he was stuck with the run-down kit purchased by the school, worn down and permanently out of key from overuse. Which sucked, but that was the way it was until he saved up enough money to buy a new drum set.

So there he was one rainy Thursday afternoon, banging away as usual and minding his own business when suddenly...

"Oh my God, I love you!"

Matthias glanced up at the voice that had just interrupted his playing. A boy stood in the doorframe smiling and staring at Matthias intently. He had a wiry frame that was accentuated by a pair of skinny jeans and a large teeshirt. He wore thick eyeliner, and each earlobe had a silver earring in it. Matthias raised an eyebrow.

"Oh! Uh, sorry, I didn't mean, like, I'm in love with you or anything, I mean, I've already got a boyfriend and I don't know if you're gay anyway. Not that I wanted to know if you were! I just, I heard you playing from the hall and I had to see! You see, I'm in this band and our drummer quit on us a few weeks ago and we need to find a new drummer and then I heard you play and I mean... You're awesome, okay?!" The boy seemed to realize he was rambling and covered his mouth to prevent further embarrassment.

Matthias blinked. "Um, what?"

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot! Can I start over?" Matthias nodded, and the boy took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking again. "Hi, I'm Tino Väinämöinen, sorry I interrupted. I really like your drumming."

"It's fine," Matthias replied. "I'm Matthias Andersen, and I guess I'm sort of okay at the drums..."

"Are you joking?" Tino exclaimed. "You've gotta be about ten times better than the last guy we had, no offense to Alfred or anything."

"If you say so... So, you said something about a band?"

Tino's eyes lit up as his smile grew bigger. "Oh yeah! We really need a drummer, and you're really good! Do you wanna join?"

"Well, I don't see why not. I've always wanted to be in a band," Matthias mused. Having made his decision, he turned to Tino. "Alright, but only if you've got a decent kit. This one sucks."

"Oh, we've definitely got that!" Tino remarked before staring down the kit Matthias was seated at. "God, those do look bad. How do you make them sound so amazing?"

"I don't,"Matthias answered. "My playing sounds like total shit on this. What time is this band of yours rehearsing?"

"Right now, if you'd like— not that I'm forcing you or anything. We agreed that we'd call each other and rehearse once we found a drummer."

"Well, whatcha waiting for then? Go call 'em. I'll do anything if it means I get to play real drums."

"Oh, uh, okay!" Tino seemed a bit surprised that Matthias was so willing to join, but withdrew his phone from his backpack nonetheless and dialed a number. "Hey, Lukas?"

There was a pause.

"No, no, that's not it. No... Lukas! Stop talking, please... Okay, well, I finally found a drummer! And he's really good, too... No, seriously, he's even better than Alfred... Joo, we can come over right away, should I call Berwald, or-? ... Oh, alright, you can do it. Okay, we'll see you in a few minutes! Bye, Lukas!"

And with that, he put his phone away again. "Alright, Matthias, let's go!"

"Okay," Matthias replied, and the two set off for band practice.

**A/N: Wow, I feel like that was a really awkward ending. Anyway, this is my first time trying to write for Hetalia, so any constructive criticism would be much appreciated. Thanks, and hopefully I'll be back in 2-3 weeks with another update!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! This turned out way longer than I expected it to, but I suppose that's not necessarily a bad thing. Anyway, I was going to cut this off at a different point, but that would have required an additional thousand or so words, and I have an English project that I really need to work on. I would have postponed posting this, but I... I'm just really happy I got so many follows, faves, and reviews, okay? I was not expecting this much, so thank you all. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with my ranting any longer, so go ahead and read the next chapter.**

It would be safe to say that Lukas had not genuinely smiled in over five years. Nor had he raised his voice, cried, blushed, or outwardly shown any real emotion.

Not that he didn't have feelings. He still experienced feelings just as any other would. He just preferred not to display such fragile and irrational things as emotions to the whole world. It made him feel... Vulnerable. Thus he went about his life wearing an imaginary mask, shutting out even his closest friends and family.

So, it really shouldn't surprise you that when he looked down at the caller ID of his phone (which had been ringing), he skipped any formalities such as "hello" or maybe "what's up" in favor of, "Look, Tino, if you're calling about making up with Alfred there is no way in hell that's happening. I don't know why that traitor decided to join his band, much less start dating him, and though I guess he was obnoxious anyway—"

No, the surprise lay in the quantity rather than the quality of his speech. While Lukas truly hated unnecessary conversation in person, one could hardly manage to shut him up when given the chance to criticize, especially when he was in a bad mood.

Yes, yes, he was in a bad mood that day. How did you guess?

He sighed. "What is it, Tino?… I swear, if this is anything like what happened with Gilbert I'm going to kill someone… Fine, fine. Well, Emil and I are available. Can you and the new candidate come over?"

Actually, he had no idea where the fuck Emil was or if he was available. But his little brother tended to randomly appear when needed anyhow, so this really didn't cause Lukas distress.

"I can call. You'll get distracted; I want to waste as little time as humanly possible… I'll be ready in half an hour. Bye, Tino." And with that, Lukas hung up.

He should have been ecstatic. Finally, after six unbearable weeks without a single band rehearsal, there was finally a chance his band was saved!

But he couldn't even bring himself to be happy. In fact, his first thought was, _'shit, now I have to actually talk to people'_. Now, Lukas had always been a bit shy, but he surprised even himself with how pessimistic he was being about this whole ordeal. Gilbert may have been bad, but he was not so completely unbearable that he had lost all hope for his band.

Perhaps he was just sick of drummers. Alfred was a self-absorbed idiot, so was Gilbert, and at this point Lukas was kind of expecting someone obnoxious.

Lukas hated obnoxious people. Obnoxious people did obnoxious things, like abandoning his band to join those of his enemies. And that just sucked.

You see, that's what had happened with Alfred Jones, their previous drummer. Arthur had seduced him somehow (because there was simply no way those two had actually fallen in love as Alfred claimed; that was just silly), and gotten him to join his band, leaving Lukas betrayed, without a drummer, and feeling kind of like shit.

Nonetheless, Lukas had agreed to let this new percussionist audition, so he called Berwald and started to mentally prepare for whatever was coming.

* * *

><p>"So, what's this band like?" Matthias asked Tino as the two walked down an empty street. The former was trying to make small talk while the two walked to Lukas' house. "You seem nice enough; what about the rest of the band?"<p>

"Well, there are four of us: me, my boyfriend Berwald, Lukas, and his brother Emil. Berwald's really sweet, but he's kind of quiet and a little intimidating. He plays the bass. Then Emil is… Hard to describe. I mean, not in a bad way or anything! Just… different. He listens to a bunch of indie music you probably haven't heard of and I can't remember the last time I've seen him without some form of Starbuck's coffee."

"So he's a hipster," Matthias concluded.

Tino's eyes widened in realization. "Yeah, I guess he is, isn't he? I never noticed that before... So yeah, Emil kind of plays whatever he feels like playing. Most of the time he does the rhythm guitar part, though."

"Rhythm guitar?" Matthias furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, you know, the guitar in the background that- wait, how much do you know about being in rock music anyway?"

"Pretty much nothing," Matthias replied, undaunted.

"Well, okay then. Where was I?" Tino mused. "Oh yeah! Lukas! Huh, I'm not sure how well you two would get along... Not that either of you are bad people or anything! He's just really critical, so be prepared. If anyone's going to judge you because of how you look, it's going to be him. He also kind of made himself the leader of the band, so whatever he says goes." He cut himself off with a somewhat awkward laugh.

"Well, I'm sure that won't be a problem — no one can resist my awesomeness for too long," Matthias remarked, smirking in a sudden show of confidence.

"That's funny," Tino mused. "The last guy who auditioned said the exact same thing."

"Seriously? What happened to him?"

"Lukas rejected him because he was too loud and annoying," Tino stated before realizing what he had just implied. "Not that he's going to reject you, or that you're annoying! I was just... I don't know."

"Eh, it's okay. I'm sure it'll work out." Matthias waved his hand dismissively. "Wait... So what type of music do you play?"

"We're punk," Tino replied. "But I guess today my clothing's a bit more metal, what with the Anthrax shirt..." He gestured to his shirt, which indeed said 'Anthrax' on it.

Whatever Tino had meant by that was lost on Matthias; he didn't know anything about either genre. In fact, he always thought the two were the same thing. They both had a lot of guitars and screaming people, so what was the difference?

And what the hell? Anthrax? "You have a shirt with the name of a bacterial disease on it?"

"Huh?" Tino raised an eyebrow.

"Anthrax," Matthias explained. "It's a bacterial disease found in cattle and sheep that causes ulcers. How is that metal?"

Tino stared at Matthias for a moment, before snorting.

"What?" Matthias asked, still confused.

And with that, Tino gave in to the temptation and started to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Oh god... I just... Wow," He exclaimed between bursts of giggling. "You don't know anything about this stuff, do you?"

"Am I really that obvious?" Matthias wondered aloud.

"Matthias, Anthrax is a band. A really freaking awesome band. That's why I have this shirt; not because of some disease with sheep or something. God, Lukas is either going to hate you, or think yours hilarious!"

Well, now he kind of felt like an idiot. "Are you sure I'm going to fit in with you guys? I mean, I don't know anything about punks or being punk."

"Oh, well, not all of us are punk... I mean, according to Lukas, I'm not a punk, even though I listen to the music," Tino pointed out. "I mean Berwald listens to cheesy 80s pop, and Emil's a hipster, and they don't have any problems. You'll be fine. And if nothing else, your nerdiness is pretty entertaining. Uh, no offense."

"None taken," Matthias remarked. Then, seeing as neither had anything to say (Matthias being embarrassed by his lack of knowledge, and Tino being lost in thought), the two walked in an uncomfortable silence. Matthias noticed Tino had led them to a poorer part of the town, populated by one-storey houses with warped exteriors and chipped paint. There was no one out on the streets, except for a tall blond man in the distance.

Apparently this man was somewhat important, as Tino called out, "Berwald!" And ran up to him, Matthias in tow.

Berwald turned around just in time for Tino to run into him, which might have knocked him over had he not been about fifteen centimeters taller than the Finn.

It was only after the two had shared a rather adorable hug that Tino remembered Matthias was still there. "Oh yeah! Berwald, this is Matthias, our new drummer. Matthias, this is Berwald, my wife!"

"Uh, what?" Matthias glanced at Berwald, wondering under what circumstance the man could be referred to as anyone's wife. "I thought he was your boyfriend...?" He stated it as a question.

"No, 'm not Tino's wife," Berwald mumbled, shaking his head. "Tino's m'wife."

"No, you're the wife!" Tino argued, though his smile gave away the joking manner of his retort. "I'm way more masculine than you."

"Keep tellin' yourself that," Berwald responded.

All this happened while Matthias just stared, completely and utterly perplexed.

The three continued down the battered street as Tino and Berwald held hands and talked amongst themselves.

* * *

><p>Truthfully, Lukas had no idea what to expect when he opened the door, but he certainly knew it was not a boy wearing a white button-down shirt, khakis, and thick-rimmed glasses, hair standing up like he had been electrocuted in a freaking cartoon or something. "Who the hell are you?" he asked a bit rudely.<p>

Well, so much for love at first sight.

"Your new drummer!" He shot back with a smirk, his voice just a bit too loud in Lukas' opinion. "The name's Matthias. You're Lukas, right?"

"Yes," he replied automatically.

Lukas furrowed his eyebrows... This was the boy Tino had been gushing about? He looked like a fucking nerd; there was no way...

But he wasn't about to waste his personal musings on someone he did not know and did not really want to know, so he sighed and asked, "Where's Tino?"

"Oh, he got distracted! We ran into his boyfriend; I think they're still on the driveway making out or something."

Well, that was a beautiful thought.

"Of course they are," Lukas rolled his eyes, passing the supposed drummer and walking to the driveway. Luckily, they were not making out, but Tino was talking Berwald's ear off as the two held hands. "Tino, Berwald, I believe you know the rules regarding displays of affection on my property." Namely, no affection was to be displayed. "And even if you weren't breaking that rule, you're wasting time when we could be practicing."

"Shit, that's right, rehearsal!" Tino realized. "Sorry, Lukas!" The couple made their way into Lukas' house along with the drummer and Lukas himself, who was muttering to no one in particular about the incompetency of his band.

Once they were settled in the living room, Matthias blurted, "So when do I get to play? This band thing sounds like fun, and Tino told me you've got a pretty good set of drums."

Lukas was already starting to lose patience with this kid. Which was not a good sign, seeing as he had only met Matthias about two minutes ago. "No one said you're in the band yet, so don't get your hopes up," He replied, really hoping that Matthias was not as good as Tino said he was. He was almost as chatty as their last drummer, and he certainly did not want a repeat of that incident. That, and he somehow doubted anyone that geeky looking would even listen to punk. Not that everyone in the band listened to punk anyway.

Speaking of non-punks, where was Emil? He belatedly realized he had forgotten to even tell him about it.

Well, if this was only a drum audition, Emil probably didn't need to be there anyway, so Lukas continued, "The kit's in the garage, as well as the rest of our equipment. But first, you'll have to prove yourself worthy to play them, seeing as our last two drummers failed to meet our expectations."

Typically Lukas wasn't so stiff, but he had never been comfortable around new people, and this was the only way for him to exert his power over others without previously being comfortable around them.

Tino gave a nervous laugh. "Lukas, I don't think-"

"Shut up, Tino," Lukas commanded before turning to Matthias. "Do you see what I'm wearing?"

Matthias blushed a bit, lord knows why. "Um, yeah."

"Take a good look at how I look, and then take a look at what you're wearing. Do you see the difference?"

Matthias stared Lukas up and down, noting the way one side of his head was cut short with a cross shaved into it, while the other side was somewhat long. He observed the thick black eyeliner rimming his eyes, the piercings in his nose and ears, and the dog tags around his neck. He wore a teeshirt with the words "Suicidal Tendencies" printed across the front that had purposefully been torn, along with a pair of jeans that hung low enough to reveal a pair of boxers underneath.

Matthias may have also noticed how hot he was by then (even if he didn't particularly enjoy the way his pants were hanging), but he was not about to tell anybody that.

He contrasted this with his outfit for today, which had consisted of a pair of khaki pants, a white, collared button-down, and a pair of glasses that were dorky enough not to be considered cool, but not dorky enough to be hipster (and thus still somehow cool). His only accessory was a cheap black watch.

Perhaps Lukas had a point. He didn't look like Tino or Lukas.

But what had Tino said earlier? He didn't need to be a punk to be in the band, he just needed to play the drums and be a good person.

And Matthias could be affable. And play the drums. That much was simple. "I see what you're trying to say," he retorted, "But I think what really matters is that I can play my instrument. It sounds kind of like the last couple of guys who've tried to audition were total dicks, but I promise I'll try to be better." Yeah, that sounded decent enough. "That, and I just moved here, and I need friends." He added helpfully.

Lukas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fine, you can audition. But if you get in (and I'm not saying you will), do not expect me to be your friend. I don't need any friends. I don't want any friends."

Matthias was skeptical of this. Everyone wanted friends, right? "We'll see about that," he smirked. "Now, where's this drum set I keep hearing about?"

**A/N: Yes, I know, another awkward ending. It'll get better, I promise. So, I've been having an internal debate with myself ever since I started planning this about a month ago: how hipster should I make Iceland? I'm really tempted to just go all the way and totally exaggerate it, but I'm worried some fellow Iceland fans won't appreciate this. So... What do you guys think: Ultra!Hipster!Iceland, Normal!Hipster!Iceland, or Vaguely!Hipster!Iceland? Either way, he'll be in the next chapter. Thanks, guys! See you soon (after I turn in my project this Friday, because I seriously need to stop procrastinating). And any constructive reviews or words of praise would still be great, so y'know, do that and stuff (you don't have to, but I'd like it).**

**EDIT: Holy typos! I think I caught all of them, but... Shoot. That wasn't good.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Gosh, so writer's block hit, but not in the way you'd expect. I was having a really hard time coming up with onomatopoeias for drum sounds, actually. So for like a week, I had half a chapter written, and then one day the words hit me and the rest just came. Yeah, it's a lame excuse, but that's what happened, so... Uh, yeah. Anyway, reviews and such are appreciated, and holy whoa, how did I get twenty-five followers? My story is _not _that good... I don't think...**

Most teenagers do not have a recording studio in their garage.

Then again, pretty much everything about Lukas' house seemed a bit off. It was secluded at the end of a row of worn-down houses, and there was no noise anywhere but at this one house. Matthias had yet to see any parental unit, which he found rather odd seeing as his own parents watched over him like hawks (in fact, he was really hoping this rehearsal would not cause him to miss his curfew because otherwise he would be in serious trouble). Anyhow, one more oddity really should not have shocked Matthias at this point.

It wasn't like it was fancy or anything. Just the needed instruments, and some assorted microphones and cords that connected to an amp and a computer, allowing them to play and record music. But it was impressive nonetheless, and Matthias still gawked at the sight.

Then he heard someone clear their throat. His eyes widened (somehow more than they already had) in surprise as he turned to see a silver-haired boy sitting in one of the chairs that had been haphazardly placed in the room. "I see we have another idiot. Here to try to get past Lukas, I presume?"

Perplexed, Matthias could only think to nod and give a somewhat awkward, "Uh, yeah!"

"Take my advice," the boy said to the Dane. "You may as well leave now. Lukas is never going to let you into the band. Not that I care either way; drums are too mainstream anyhow."

"Oh, so you're Emil!" Matthias remarked, taking note of the boy's fashionable scarf, flannel shirt, and skinny jeans, which were easily identified as hipster (the reason Matthias could easily identify hipster traits but not those of a punk or metalhead would remain shrouded in mystery forever more). "You seem a lot like your brother."

The younger teen obviously did not appreciate this sentiment as Emil immediately blushed in embarrassment, spluttering, "I am not! My brother's a conceited douchebag!"

"Emil, you are the definition of a conceited douchebag." Lukas rolled his eyes before adding, "You're a cute little conceited douchebag though, so it's okay." And for the first time that day, Matthias noticed Lukas' mouth twitch into the barest hint of a smirk, though it only lasted for a moment before stoicism overtook his face once more.

"Lukas, one of these days I am going to kill you, I swear…"

"Anyway," Lukas interjected, blatantly ignoring his brother. "Show me what you've got. The drum kit's right over there." He gestured to the far end of the room from where they stood near the door. A few feet from the wall a bright red and completely functional drum set sat ready to play, causing Matthias to make a noise that can really only be described as a fangirl squeal and run over to the glorious instrument, stopping to find a pair of drumsticks before he sat at the stubby cushioned seat behind the drums.

And finally, Matthias was free to play whatever he wished, which would have been amazing had he thought about what to play beforehand. He had not, however, so he simply sat with his sticks raised as the four band members stared expectantly.

He tried desperately to remember how to move his sticks while people were judging him, but his thoughts were incoherent. In fact, at this point it had kind of been reduced to a mantra of _shit, shit, shit, shit, shit… _Which did not exactly help with the whole playing process.

"Well?" A voice interrupted his eloquent musings and Matthias looked up to see Lukas with his hands on his hips. "Can you play or not?"

That was the last straw. No one was allowed to question Matthias Andersen's abilities but himself. He slammed down his foot on the pedal, which subsequently beat the bass drum.

_Boom!_

Then he struck the snare with his left stick.

_Smack!_

He hit the bass again, and then the snare. He repeated his pattern, this time adding the hi-hat on eighth notes.

_Boom-tap smack-tap boom-tap smack-tap!_

Then it got more complicated as he got into his improvisation a little more.

_Boom-boom-tap-ba-boom smack-tap ba-boom-tap smack! Boom-tap rat-a-tat boom-tap smack!_

And on he went for a good five minutes or so, complimenting the bass-snare pattern with toms and cymbals as he became fully immersed in his solo.

He wrapped up the song with a roll of the snare and a loud "_crash!" _from one of his cymbals, and turned his gaze toward the band.

"Holy shit…" Emil broke the silence. "You can actually play."

"See?!" Tino exclaimed. "And you guys didn't believe me!"

But that was not who Matthias was concerned about. He glanced at Lukas, whose blank face revealed absolutely nothing regarding his opinion.

"So... Am I in the band?" Matthias asked him.

Lukas' face immediately hardened. "Hell no. Your stance is sloppy, your rhythm is imprecise, and you are far too loud."

"Oh, come on Lukas!" Tino yelled angrily. "He's at least three times as good as Alfred, and you let _him_ in!"

"Tino-"

"No, he's right," Emil interrupted. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with him and we both know it. So there must be some other reason you don't want him in…"

Lukas looked unfazed. "Emil, he sucks. If you couldn't hear how bad that was you must be going deaf."

"No, you're just judging him because he doesn't look like he can play," Emil concluded. "Sure, Lukas, he looks like he spends his time playing Dungeons and Dragons, but we're a little too desperate to ostracize a perfectly good drummer just because he's a nerd."

"Exactly!" Tino said in agreement as Berwald nodded.

Matthias furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait… So if three out of four of you want me in the band… Why should Lukas decide?"

Emil shrugged. "Because he's an arrogant prick. Get used to it."

"You know what? Fine." Lukas rolled his eyes. "Let him in. But don't come crying to me when he quits." And with that the boy gave a small huff and walked inside, refusing to meet eyes with anyone.

"What was that about?" Matthias asked, somewhat worried about Lukas' demeanor.

"Don't worry; he's just being an ice queen again," Emil assured him. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I was recording a song for my solo album…"

"Oh yeah, we can leave!" Tino's face brightened as he let himself become distracted from the previous conversation. The three of them went back into the main house, and Tino and Berwald exited through the front door.

Matthias, however, was curious. "Why did he say that…?" he mused. Matthias had yet to even think of quitting the band; it was not like he had anything better to do anyway. Obviously Lukas needed some reassurance.

He took a moment to contemplate the possible consequences of interrupting whatever Lukas was doing at a moment before deciding it would not hurt to just see what he was up to. And so Matthias set off to find his new bandmate.

He finally found him in what must have been his room with headphones over his ears, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Thinking he wouldn't notice, Matthias stepped into the room.

"What do you want?" Lukas demanded without so much as turning to look at the trespasser.

"Well, I was worried," Matthias replied, slightly embarrassed. "You seemed a little… Angry, I guess. If you really want, I don't have to be in your band, but your friends might not appreciate that."

Lukas sighed, removing the headphones from his head. "Those guys aren't my friends. Why should they be? It's not like I have any redeeming qualities."

Matthias thought he looked like he needed a hug, but figured Lukas would probably behead him if he were to give him one. So, in compromise, he opted to walk a little further into the room. "Sure you do," he said in reply. "You might seem a bit intimidating, but it looks like you're just using it to cover up who you really are."

"Oh yeah? And who do you think I really am?" Lukas challenged.

Matthias shrugged. "I don't know. I just met you an hour ago. I guess I'll have to become friends with you to find out."

"What is it with you?" Lukas asked in agitation. "We have nothing in common; why should we even try?"

"Because you seem cool!" Matthias answered. "And neither of us have any friends, so can't we just be friends with each other?"

Lukas had no good response. "I… I… Just leave me alone."

Matthias smirked. "That wasn't a no," he pointed out.

"Nor was it a yes," Lukas shot back icily.

"Fine, fine; I'll stop teasing," Matthias laughed, turning around and walking toward the door.

"Wait!"

Matthias halted and turned to face Lukas again. "What?"

"You…" Lukas' face was tinged with pink. "Rehearsal's tomorrow at 2:30. Don't be late, or you're out of the band."

And with that, Matthias smiled. "Got it. See ya tomorrow, Lukas!" Then he left Lukas' room, smile still on his face.

**A/N: Oh, and as a note, the recording studio is actually somewhat accurate. My own makeshift recording studio consists of my computer, my dad's amp, some assorted instruments, and wires connect things to other things. Most of that was actually fairly cheap (compared to a legit recording studio, that is). The one thing they'd need would probably be something to muffle the echo in the room, seeing as they're in a garage, but I found that unnecessary to bring up. Anyway, rant over.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm sorry this is so late! I had about ten billion things to do, so I really didn't have time to start until about two weeks ago. Oh yeah, and for anyone that wants to see more DenNor punk nerds, I posted the link to the original AU on my profile a couple weeks back. The artist is simply amazing, so I'd highly recommend visiting her page (her AU is quite a bit different from mine, but there are quite a few similarities seeing as that's what inspired this fic).**

Lukas must have had the strangest schedule known to man. Every morning, he woke up at about five-thirty to practice singing and playing the guitar. After that, he would eat breakfast, earn his daily wage selling pot to the local thugs behind the school (no, Lukas did not smoke pot; he preferred to keep his brain intact), and head to his first class of the day: AP Calculus.

Now, Lukas had a reputation to uphold, so he hadn't told any of his band mates he was taking the most difficult math class in the school. Honestly, could one imagine what people would think of that? Who's ever heard of a deadbeat punk kid with a 4.0 GPA?

He was strategically seated in the back of the class so as not to draw attention to himself, looking out the window and clutching his daily fix of coffee. The bell was not going to ring for about ten more minutes, and Lukas had every intention of relaxing in silence until his class started.

Until the door burst open and a very, very familiar nerd walked in, easily identified by his stupid hair, absurd glasses, and cheerful smile.

Shit.

He looked at the ground, hoping his new so-called friend would not notice him.

No such luck. "Hey, Lukas!" Matthias greeted as he walked to back of the room, invading Lukas' corner of solitude.

"What are you doing here?" Lukas demanded in a quiet but harsh hiss. He did not want any sort of attention in this class in particular, but there was no way would Matthias ever ignore Lukas, especially since he had declared them friends.

"This is my class," Matthias answered with a a sly smile.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me..."

But the Dane either missed the vexed tone in Lukas' voice or ignored his complaint entirely as he sat down in the seat right next to his and attempted to start a conversation. "So... Calculus," was his brilliantly eloquent icebreaker.

Lukas took a sip of his coffee before responding, "Yes, I know what class I'm taking; though I'm sure you need to constantly remind yourself."

"Well, it seems a bit odd that you're here," Matthias elaborated. "It's not like there are very many punks in this class."

Lukas twitched. "What are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing," Matthias assured him, but his brow furrowed in thought. "It just seems a little weird is all."

"I don't see why it really matters. In fact, I bet I get better grades than you. You seem a bit dense."

Obviously this was meant to offend Matthias, but he once again ignored Lukas' blatant insult. "You wanna bet? Alright, I bet ya ten dollars I'll get a better score than you on the next test."

Lukas snorted. Idiot. "I bet you fifteen I don't make a single mistake on it."

Matthias gave a cocky grin, clearly thinking he had this in the bag. "Deal," he replied, holding his hand out in front of Lukas as if he expected him to shake it or something.

Lukas gave his classmate a silent, deadpan glare that properly conveyed, "Ew, physical contact" and went back to ignoring the Dane until he retracted his hand.

And with that awkward exchange, the bell promptly rang, and the teacher started the class.

"-And then Leon told me that I'm shallow. I mean, seriously? Me, shallow? Yeah right," Emil complained to Tino, obviously expecting some reaction of disbelief from his friend. It was currently both their lunch periods, and they typically sat together and talked. Sometimes Lukas joined as well, but most of the time it was just the two of them, seeing as Berwald had a class at that time.

Tino opened his mouth as if to speak, but was interrupted before he had the chance to say anything.

"Hey guys!" Matthias shouted, walking toward the two.

"Oh, hi Matthias!" Tino turned to him and smiled. "Do you want to sit with us?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," the boy replied, sitting down on the nearest chair.

"Anyway," Emil continued, "so I told Leon that was total BS, because he's got to be the shallowest guy I've met. Honestly, why do I even bother with him?"

"Because he's your best friend?" Tino suggested.

"Oh, shut up." He sighed before deciding to change the topic completely. "So, Matthias, how are you?"

"Great! I saw Lukas in Calculus," Matthias remarked.

"Wait, you saw who where?" Emil asked, furrowing his eyebrows on confusion.

"I saw Lukas in Calculus."

"Lukas is in Calculus? How?"

"I dunno," Matthias shrugged, "but apparently he's doing pretty well."

Emil narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Are you sure? I don't think I've seen him study in four years."

"Well, maybe that's what he does when he locks himself in his room every day," Tino responded, apparently unsurprised by the news. "It's cool you two are in the same class; though I hope Lukas isn't too sullen for you."

"Oh, he's fine," Matthias assured him. "He just needs to warm up to me. I mean, he didn't say 'no' when I asked to be friends with him..."

"Is it even worth it to remind you that I didn't say 'yes', either?" Lukas appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"What are you doing here?" Emil all but sneered at his brother.

Lukas shrugged as he placed his satchel on the ground and sat in the last remaining seat at the table. "Free country."

"Aw, come on you two," Tino groaned, although he was still smiling. "We have a new friend-"

"Band mate," Lukas corrected.

"Fine, band mate," Tino repeated. "Either way, he's gonna quit if we act so mean around him."

"I somehow doubt that. I've been insulting him all morning and he doesn't even seem to notice," Lukas pointed out.

"You do know I'm right here, right?" Matthias replied mirthfully, still ignoring any and all insults coming his way.

Lukas could not help but wonder how the Dane did it. He began to suspect Matthias was purposefully blocking out or shrugging off anything that could offend him. It would explain why Lukas had yet to see him sad or angry.

"He does; he just chooses not to acknowledge you," Emil said. "Like I said yesterday, Lukas is a bitch. You'll get used to it eventually. Or quit, like everyone else."

"I'm also right here, dear," the punk reiterated, lacing the last word with as much venom as he could muster.

Emil face palmed. "Ugh, your dorky nicknames just get more and more embarrassing..."

"I'm doing that on purpose, sweetheart."

"Oh God..." Emil shuddered.

Lukas only smirked. "Honey."

"Damn you."

"Cutie."

"Damn you to hell!" At this point, Emil was red with a terrifying mix of embarrassment and pure rage— or at least it would have been terrifying had he been the least bit threatening.

"Bae."

Okay, that was the last straw. One did not simply call Emil Bondevik their 'bae'. "That's it! I'm leaving!" He stood up, slung his back pack over one shoulder, and walked away as quickly as he could without drawing attention.

"Emil!" Tino cried out. "You know he didn't mean it!"

"Yeah!" Matthias agreed. "He was just kidding around!" Then he turned to Lukas. "You were just kidding around, right?"

"You don't need to know," Lukas responded, face once again blank. Because it was obviously no one's business whether or not he terrorized his brother out of spite or out of nostalgia for the olden days when Emil would actually let Lukas call him such things. And if it wasn't Matthias' business, Lukas was sure as hell not going to tell him about it. The bastard had already told his band mates about his calc class, and Lukas had absolutely no reason to trust the geek.

It was a quarter to three in the living room of the Bondevik residence, and Lukas was just about ready to murder someone. The only question was, who should he murder?

Should he kill Emil, who had decided to steal all the remaining coffee in the house, which was already causing Lukas to go into withdrawal?

Or perhaps Matthias, who hadn't shut up since he'd arrived at two-thirty (okay, Lukas was the one who'd told him to come, but he hadn't been counting on the fact that the Dane was physically incapable of keeping his mouth shut)?

No, no, neither of them. Those two were minor nuisances at worst. No, Lukas really wanted to kill the fucking married couple that had decided to ditch rehearsal to do... Something. Knowing them, probably making out or doing something sickeningly romantic. Or both. Lukas really didn't give a damn; what mattered was the fact that weren't at rehearsal, and the band couldn't play without their bassist and lead guitarist.

"So, what's the band called?" Matthias interrupted Lukas' musings. "I don't think you guys ever told me."

The boy shrugged. "Don't have one."

"What?" Matthias asked, taken aback. "How? Haven't you been together for a while?"

"Yes, we have," Emil replied. "We just haven't been able to agree on one yet."

"You guys sure seem to disagree a lot," Matthias laughed, easy smile returning.

Lukas began to tap his foot impatiently. "Where are they?"

Emil didn't answer his question, but rather turned to Matthias and said, "We actually have a list of debated band names about four pages long. I think Tino came up with at least ninety percent of them."

Lukas took out his cell phone and texted quick 'where the fuck are you' message to Berwald.

"Wow, that many? C'mon, there's gotta be at least one good name in there."

"Well, yeah, my contribution was amazing," Emil replied with an eye roll. "But Tino won't let us use any of the names but the ones he came up with."

"Alright, well do you like any of Tino's names?"

Lukas was tempted to laugh at that sentence. "Idiot. If it was that easy, don't you think we would've worked it out already?" He walked over to a chest in the corner of the room, pulled out the top drawer, and snatched out the list. "Here," he said, giving the papers to Matthias. "Look through the ones labeled 'Tino', and tell me if you see a single decent band name."

He watched as Matthias read the potential names on the sheet, becoming more and more amused at each. Before he had even reached the end of the first page, he could not keep himself from laughing. "Oh God... He was joking, right?"

Emil cracked a smile. "That's the best part: he wasn't. He thinks every single one of those would be an amazing band name."

"How-?"

He held up a hand to keep Matthias from finishing his sentence. "I don't even know."

"Fucking shit," Lukas groaned to no one in particular. "Where the fuck are they?"

His question was answered with three distinct knocks on the door. "Well," Emil remarked. "I have a good guess."

"Shut up, you adorable little devil," Lukas scolded (and yes, that really was the worst insult he could give his brother) before walking to the door, his face stoic but his hands clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms.

He opened the door and immediately asked, "Where were you two?"

All that earned him was a piece of paper shoved into his face. "Lukas!" Tino said excitedly. "Look at this!"

Lukas took the sheet from Tino's hand and began to look it over. "Okay, and why is a high school 'Battle of the Bands' concert worth showing up over half an hour late?"

"Well, look at the grand prize!" Tino replied. "Five thousand dollars, Lukas! That's a thousand per person, and we've already got a band and everything!"

"We could get gigs elsewhere," Lukas pointed out, still not seeing the point.

"Arthur's b'nd signed 'p."

Lukas' eyes widened as he realized the gravity of this statement. Sighing, he relented. "Come in," he said as he backed away from the door to let them in.

The couple walked inside and followed Lukas back to the living room. Once they were all situated, Lukas set the flyer on he coffee table in front of Matthias and Emil, telling them to read it.

"Okay, and?" Emil asked. "I thought you hated high school events."

"The Allies signed up," Lukas explained.

"What allies?" Matthias asked. "Like World War Two? Or- oh. It's a band name, isn't it?"

Tino let out a small laugh. "Yes, it is."

"Anyway," Lukas interjected, signaling a return to the matter at hand. "The contest is in February. We have four months to get the band up to par, come up with a song, and be able to play it."

Tino nodded. "That sounds reasonable."

"Yeah, should be fine," Matthias agreed. "First order of business: we need a name."

"Who put you in charge?" Lukas inquired venomously.

"Who put you in charge?" Matthias sassed back with a smirk.

Lukas face-palmed. "I hate you."

"Okay, any ideas?" Matthias asked, still smiling.

Tino's face brightened. "Ooh, I know! What about one of the names on the-"

"We are not using the list," Emil and Lukas said in unison.

"Wow, you two really are related," Matthias commented, noting their similar speech.

Emil hid his face behind his hands to hide the blush that was likely tinting his face bright pink.

"What's wrong with the list?" Tino wondered aloud.

"You know what?" Emil scathingly responded. "You can take your stupid list and shove it up your-!"

"Emil, you aren't helping," Lukas interrupted. "Why don't we come up with some new ones, and then I can decid- I mean, we can take a vote to decide which name we should use."

The next ten or so minutes were spent brainstorming and arguing. In Lukas' opinion, every suggested name as of yet was either dull and boring, or downright stupid.

"I still think we should just call ourselves 'A Band'," Emil said. "It's at least better than Tino's names."

Or both. Emil was very good at coming up with names that had a perfect balance of boring and stupid.

Tino seemed to take offense at Emil's notion, and responded, "How? It's so boring and uncreative."

"It would be ironic," Emil explained. "What do the rest of you think?"

Lukas rolled his eyes while Matthias replied with a simple 'no'.

"D'n't think so." Berwald shook his head.

"Hey, where's that accent from?" Matthias asked, changing the topic entirely (Lukas didn't even care at this point; it wasn't like they were being productive anyhow). "It sounds familiar."

"Sweden."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Dude, I'm Danish," Matthias replied excitedly. "That makes us, like, brothers or something."

"That's not how it works," Lukas replied. "And I think I would be included in this so-called family as well, seeing as I'm Norwegian."

"You're what?"

"Jeg kommer fra Norge."

"No way... Next you're going to tell me Tino's from Scandinavia too," Matthias said in disbelief.

"Finland, actually," Tino corrected. "Close, though."

"Wait, so everyone here's from a Nordic country," Matthias concluded.

"That's kinda how we met," Emil elaborated. "In middle school Lukas and I started a Nordic club, and Berwald and Tino both joined, and then we became a band somehow."

"Maybe we should call ourselves The Nordics or something..." Matthias mused, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "Oh, I know! How about the Nordic Five?"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Emil broke the silence. "Well, we don't have anything better, so why not?"

"Yeah, it sounds fine," Tino added helpfully.

Berwald nodded.

"It sounds like the name of a sappy boy band," Lukas complained. "But if we must, I suppose it could be worse."

"Alright, so it's decided then," Matthias remarked. "From henceforth, we will forever be known as the Nordic Five. Any objections?"

Seeing as there were none, the Nordic Five decided to go to the garage and finally commence rehearsal.

**A/N: I speak a little Norwegian so I'm fairly certain that one line was right, but I'm never sure and I always feel self-concious about these things, so... Scandinavian readers, feel free to correct me if that was wrong. I will give you cookies.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey, I'm back! So, I'm going to apologize ahead of time: there really isn't too much plot in this chapter, and there might not really be much in the next one either. I'm sorry, but that's just how it's coming out! Anyway...**

Sure, Matthias was a great drummer. He sounded wonderful with the band, and he was a fast learner.

But did he have the ability not to piss off his band mates?

"I hate you!" Emil shouted, chasing after the Dane in hot pursuit.

Matthias did nothing but cackle maniacally.

"Oh, you're going down," the boy replied.

"That's what you think." Matthias flashed a cocky grin.

Lukas entered the room and sighed in exasperation. "What's going on here?"

Neither turned to look at him, far too focused on their little war. "Just kicking Matthias' ass at MarioKart," Emil answered, still chasing after his band mate— on the game, that is. In just a week, the two had become fast frenemies. Sure, Matthias was obnoxious, and both of them had a competitive streak that turned into skirmishes like this fairly regularly, but they hung out almost every day after school anyhow. If nothing else, they both loved to bother Lukas together.

"Yeah fucking right!" Matthias interjected. "I just bumped you back to eighth place!"

"Emil," Lukas continued, "Weren't you supposed to be teaching Matthias about the history of punk?"

"Got bored," Emil said with a shrug. "And I still don't see why you aren't teaching him yourself... Shit, shit, shit! Stop that!"

Matthias snorted. "No way! It's too fun to torment you!"

"Emil. Punk music."

The boy jerked his controller to the left. "Fine! Okay, so once upon a time, people were boring because rock music hadn't been invented yet... Oh, no you don't, Princess Peach!"

"Emil..."

"I know! Shut up! And then one day, people realized that music sounded cooler when they put the stress on the second and fourth beats rather than the first and third."

"Okay," Matthias replied as he shook his controller fiercely. "I knew that much. I'm a drummer, remember?"

"Shut up. So anyway, rock started to get more and more awesome, right? Until the seventies, when some idiots invented disco. Suddenly, all pop music was overly sappy and covered in synths," Emil continued, making it sound like sappy and synth-infused music was literally the worst thing in the world.

Matthias veered his controller to the right whilst furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Is that really so bad?"

Emil paused the game and stared his band mate in the eyes. "Matthias. They started using drum machines. They replaced drummers with machines."

"What!"

"I know, right? So anyway..." He unpaused the game. "In response to this heresy, some people decided to rebel and make music that didn't sound like frilly, fluffy pop shit."

"And that was punk?"

Emil smiled. "And that was punk." Then his face grew sullen once more. "But, uh... That became way too mainstream way too fast. Now indie rock's the best."

"So, that's it?" Matthias asked.

Lukas rolled his eyes. "Hell no. Emil, you're fired. That sucked. And plenty of popular seventies music still had real drums. Have you not heard of Blondie? Or Queen?"

Emil turned his remote to the left. "Hello? Trying to concentrate here- shit! No, no, no! Not happening."

Matthias snorted.

"Anyhow, rehearsal starts in two minutes, so you both need to quit." Lukas grabbed the remote and switched off the television.

"Hey!" Matthias cried in protest. "We were in the middle of a game!"

Emil let out a frustrated growl. He stood up, looked at Lukas, shouted, "Fuck you!" and left the room.

Silence.

Matthias blinked. "Well, that was… Abrupt."

"Just get in the garage, you imbecile. This is obviously all your fault."

Oh, so he was playing that game. Lukas had developed a habit of blaming Matthias for literally everything that went wrong— especially events that he himself had no involvement in. Once, Lukas had stubbed his toe in the garage during rehearsal and said it was Matthias' fault simply because his drum playing was 'distracting'. "Uh, no it's not."

"Matthias. Garage."

He sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine."

* * *

><p>Sadly, this was not the only fight Matthias and Lukas got into that day. Not ten minutes into rehearsal, Lukas stopped their playing and turned to Matthias. "You're off-beat."<p>

"No, you're off-beat."

"What are you talking about? I was perfect. You were off."

"Well, then all of us were off, because I was in sync with everyone else." This earned a few laughs from the other members before Lukas gave them each an icy glare to effectively silence the masses.

"Until the bridge," Lukas countered. "You messed up; I could tell."

"I… I don't understand." Matthias was at a loss. This had to be the third time Lukas had nitpicked him today, and as good as he was at keeping a perpetual smile on his face, the constant criticism was growing to become too much. "I can't do anything right with you, can I?"

"No, you can't."

Well, that was it. Matthias gave up. "Fine then!" He sighed. "I guess I'll be going. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, he said a quick goodbye to the rest of the band, thanked Emil for inviting him over, and left the building.

Matthias had just gotten home and gone to his room when his cell phone rang. "Yeah?"

"Matt," Emil replied. "I want to talk to you."

"Not in the mood."

The boy sighed. "Yeah, I know. You'll be back tomorrow, right?"

He pondered that for a minute. Most of the band was actually pretty fun to to be around, but Lukas was so judgmental.

But had he not promised he would be friends with Lukas? Had he not told Lukas himself that he had redeeming qualities?

He hadn't figured out any of Lukas' good traits, but that didn't mean he never would.

"Yes," he decided. "I will."

"Good." A pause. "You know, he's only going so hard on you to see if you'll leave."

There was that sense of foreboding again, the implication that Matthias would leave the band. "Why? Why is he so worried about me leaving?"

"Can't give any specifics; that's for Lukas to tell you. But I will say that under all that condescension, he really does like you."

"Yeah, right." Matthias rolled his eyes. "Of course. That's why he's constantly trying to lower my self-esteem."

"Exactly!" Emil exclaimed. "He's such a drama queen. I mean, seriously, you're harmless!"

He paused for a moment. "But anyway, just keep trying with that friend thing. He'll get a grip at some point. And you were actually doing pretty well up until then."

Seeing as that was the first time Matthias had cracked, Emil was probably right. He was being pretty patient.

"Alright. Thanks, man."

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

And with that, the line went dead.

* * *

><p>"Lukas!" Matthias called eagerly the next day toward the end of their shared class. He probably should have been paying attention to his teacher, but Lukas seemed infinitely more important at the moment— of course, Matthias may have been slightly biased.<p>

That, and both of them had non verbally decided to never speak of yesterday's outburst again, so Matthias could just keep going along with his original plan to become best friends with Lukas.

"Shut up," he responded.

Matthias chose not to listen to that demand, continuing to prod. "Lukas..."

"Be quiet."

"Lukas..."

"Go away."

"Lukas..."

Lukas rolled his eyes and grumbled, "What is it?"

"What did ya get on the test?" Matthias asked. "Remember the bet?"

Matthias knew he had won, and he really wanted his ten bucks. He could use ten bucks.

"I got a perfect score," Lukas replied, showing him his test which indeed had 100% written across the top.

Matthias' smile grew bigger. "I got 110%."

"I see." Lukas furrowed his eyebrows. "You got the bonus questions, didn't you?"

"Yup! That means I win!" Matthias nodded. "You owe me ten dollars."

Lukas looked unfazed. "I also won, remember? I bet that I would get a perfect score, not that I would beat you."

Uh, what? "Really?"

"Yes."

Well, that was confusing. "What does that mean?"

"I give you ten dollars, then you give me fifteen."

"Or I could just give you five," Matthias pointed out.

Lukas feigned surprise. "Oh, so you can do basic subtraction? Wow, I had no idea."

Matthias laughed. "Do you really have any right to say that anymore? I still did better than you."

"Shut up and give me your money," Lukas muttered as his cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink.

Well, Matthias couldn't argue with that level of cuteness. "Fine." He pulled a five-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to his classmate, who snatched it up and put it in his bag, refusing to meet Matthias' eyes.

It was a bit strange someone like Lukas had the capacity to look so cute. What with the rugged jean jacket and multiple piercings, one would assume his image would be more akin to badass than cute.

And yet, Matthias found his beautiful blond hair increasingly distracting with its little waves at the tips that occasionally protruded into his face on one side, and its intricately shaven cross on the other. The morning light shining in through the window illuminated his platinum locks, lighting them up as if they were ablaze. His eyes seemed blank and emotionless, but they had to be the most brilliant shade of indigo he had ever seen in his life, and just looking at them kind of made Matthias want to melt into a puddle of goo...

"What are you looking at?" Lukas snapped, causing Matthias to realize he had been looking at the punk for the last three minutes.

What the fuck had just happened? All the poor Norwegian had done was kindly ask him to shut up; Matthias had absolutely no reason to be staring at his new friend.

"Nothing, just spacing!" Matthias lied, scratching the back of his head. Typically, he was open about his romantic interests (including spontaneous moments like these when he found himself checking out his classmates), but he was pretty sure that flirting with Lukas would mess with the whole 'being friends' thing Matthias was trying to do. And Lukas wasn't really all that nice to him anyhow, no matter how much Emil said his brother really liked him.

Lukas narrowed his eyes. "Spacing while staring at me?"

Shit, he was on to him. Matthias, desperately hoping he seemed flighty enough for his original excuse to work, nodded. "Yeah, exactly!"

"Well next time you should stare out the window or something. You were being annoying."

Matthias suppressed a sigh of relief. Good, he was in the clear— for now, anyway. But was that just a spur of the moment 'look, he's hot' kind of thing, or should he begin to worry? He really did not want to deal with a crush on Lukas right now.

He'd always sort of disliked having crushes on people. No one was ever going to return their feelings because he was such a dork, so all he could do was flirt until the feeling faded.

And in this particular case... Well, he'd had a hard time getting Lukas to even try being friends with him. The punk would kill him if he found out Matthias had the hots for him.

Okay. He needed to calm down. He didn't even know if this was legitimately how he felt yet.

He sighed and took a careful glance in Lukas' direction.

Damn.

He swore the boy looked like a punk rock fairy. His delicate features totally clashed with his outfit in the best way possible.

Matthias forced himself to avert his gaze. Oh no.

Sadly, he had no time to mull this over, for at that moment the bell rang signaling the end of the period. He could've sat there after class until Lukas left and he could get a grip, but he had wanted to make plans to hang out with Lukas after school— you know, the whole 'befriending the stuck-up punk in search of his possible hidden kindness' plan.

So Matthias suppressed these newfound feelings as quickly as he could so he could catch Lukas after class. "Hey, Luke!" he called out , glasses falling slightly off-kilter as he ran to catch up with the other boy.

Fortunately, Lukas actually stopped walking, turning around to face the Dane.

The nerd readjusted his glasses and began to speak. "I was thinking, since you wanted me to learn more about punk music, and you know a lot about it, maybe we could hang out some time and you could teach me?"

Lukas deadpanned. "Or maybe you could just strangle me instead."

"Oh, come on!" he whined, sure to keep his tone lighthearted and full of mirth. He would not lose patience with Lukas again. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

"You're a person. People are shit to deal with. They don't understand things, and they're idiots."

At least he didn't discriminate, right?

"Well, I don't know about the idiot part, but I tend to be able to understand things pretty well. There's a reason I got into all those advanced classes, y'know.."

"I'm not going to teach you." The finality in his tone let Matthias know that there would be no further arguments. "Look it up yourself. Although…" he trailed off.

"What?"

Lukas cocked an eyebrow. "You just wanted an excuse to hang out with me, didn't you?"

"If I was, would you care?"

"No," Lukas replied. "I'd think you were being an idiot. You could just ask me if I wanted to spend time with you."

"And what would you have said?" Was there honestly a chance Lukas would willingly hang out with him?

"No."

"Exactly!" Matthias exclaimed. "I was trying to get around that by coming up with a decent excuse."

"You didn't let me finish. I would say no, unless you were okay with alcohol."

"What?" Why did this sound like a bad idea?

"There's a party at the house of a common acquaintance of mine. There would be plenty of alcohol."

Well, Matthias did like drinking, but... "Isn't that illegal?"

"Yes." No explanation, no excuses, just a blatant violation of the law without any sense of shame. "So, what do you say? It's on Saturday."

Ooh, this was tempting. Not only would he get to out with Lukas, but there would also probably be beer. But, seeing as he didn't want a criminal record, he could only give one response: "No."

"Come on."

"Not happening." This seemed like an awkward swap of roles. Typically it was Matthias trying to get Lukas to do something.

"It'll be fun," he said with a creepily playful tone.

"Until we get caught by the police."

"We won't though. C'mon, you just moved here from Denmark. You're legal there; I bet you've had alcohol before."

"Yeah, but-"

"Don't you miss it?" Lukas asked, giving him the most innocent expression.

"Yeah, but-"

His intense blue eyes stared into Matthias', silently pleading amidst all their stoicism. The tease. "I thought you wanted to hang out with me."

That was the final nail in the coffin. "Alright, I'll go."

"Great. Oh, you have a car, right? I need a ride."

"Yes, of course I- wait a minute. Is that the only reason you invited me in the first place?" It didn't really surprise him, but it was still a bit of a dick move on Lukas' part.

Lukas flashed him the barest hint of a smirk. "Maybe."

And thus Matthias achieved his longtime (well, if you would consider one week a long time) goal of hanging with Lukas at the expense of his innocence in the eyes of the law and quite possibly his dignity.

**A/N: I think DenIce is becoming my brOTP… Not sure how I feel about that… Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, follows, faves, etc! I'll try to be back soon (break next week… Writing time).**


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